On Mall Patrol

Special Officers In Buckland Area Work To Minimize Holiday Havoc

Oh, The Traffic Outside Is Frightful ...

It's Dec. 8 -- more than two weeks before Christmas -- but already cars headed toward the Buckland Hills Mall are clogging intersections a half-mile away.

``It's only going to get worse,'' said police Officer Mike Ilewicz.

Ilewicz is one of seven Manchester police officers assigned to special traffic patrols in the Buckland section of town, a regional shopping mecca that is expanding faster than post-Thanksgiving waistlines.

Ilewicz, Officer Jerry Hollis and the five-member traffic unit are patrolling the streets in the bustling shopping area and pouncing on traffic violators. It's the biggest group of officers ever assigned to holiday mall patrols.

``The whole purpose of them going up there is to be visible and to be present,'' said Lt. Glen Richards, who set up the patrols. ``We're looking for accident reduction, compliance with traffic laws, and obviously, providing a safer environment.''

For Ilewicz, the crowded streets around the mall are quite different from the deserted roads he encounters during the midnight shift he usually works. But Ilewicz, 25, sees the special traffic assignment as a mission. He's tired of seeing people get hurt in senseless accidents.

``I shop here, my family shops here,'' he said. ``I worry about them getting hit by someone who went through a red light.''

Illewicz's resolve was tested one recent Saturday. During his shift, he had to go after about 10 motorists who broke traffic laws, was forced to stand within inches of moving traffic, and had to race to a report of a man armed with a hammer. And he put up with an assortment of confused and cranky drivers, including one who promised to see him in court.

``That's sort of the mentality up here,'' Ilewicz said, ```So why are you giving me a ticket?' Because I don't feel like doing any more accidents with you people.''

It's all in a day's work for a cop dealing with the holiday crush.

On Buckland Street, a maroon Acura sails through a red light at the bottom of I-84 Exit 62, then turns left.

``There you go,'' Ilewicz says.

He flips the switch for his cruiser's siren, then accelerates onto Buckland Street. He drives headlong toward four lines of cars that just got a green light.

Even though the teenager has never held a driver's license, there's already a mark on his record, Ilewicz learns. He has been caught driving without a license before.

Ilewicz handcuffs him.

The teenager, from Willimantic, says he needed the car to do some Christmas shopping. He didn't want to ask his father whether he could use it, he said.

``It's part of the surprise,'' the young man says.

Ilewicz is used to surprises. One of the biggest on this day was the lack of fender-bender accidents. It was after 3 p.m. and none had been reported in Buckland. The day before, there were three, two of them with injuries.

Hollis, one of the other officers on holiday patrol, says traffic gets so bad around the mall, it can take 15 minutes to get from Buckland Hills Drive to the I-84 overpass on Buckland Street around the block.

``It doesn't feel like I should be doing Christmas shopping,'' he said.

One of the biggest problems the traffic officers find is people who think stopping on red is optional.

At 4:35 p.m., Ilewicz watches from Slater Street while a van drives under a traffic signal a full two seconds after it turns red.

Ilewicz flips the siren on and turns right, accelerating to 55 mph. But he almost immediately encounters two obstacles. In the right lane is a van -- not the one he's after -- that appears to be in the middle of a three-point turn. In the left lane is a big red pickup truck.

Ilewicz maneuvers around them.

``I've got to catch up ... '' he says.

He finally stops the van near the entrance to the Avalon Pavilions apartments, across the street from the mall, but the van starts driving again. The driver heads into the apartment complex, where it finally stops.

Illewicz is annoyed. Drivers who don't stop right away make him nervous.

Another thing he isn't fond of is giving out tickets.

At 4:49 p.m., a white Subaru turns out of Avalon Pavilions. Its registration has expired.

Ilewicz hits his siren. The white-haired driver pulls over to the right side of the road and stops, but then keeps going. Ilewicz moves a spotlight back and forth across the back of the car. It stops again. Then it moves forward. A third and fourth time the car stops and begins to drive again.

``I can't get her to stop!'' Ilewicz says, incredulous.

The driver finally stops up the road. Ilewicz talks to her and walks back to his cruiser, his eyes widening in exasperation. He concludes that the woman, who is in her 70s, was ``a little bit scared, that's all.''